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Check out day was, to put it bluntly, chaos for us! It was
self-induced chaos, nothing the show/club did. During the entire
convention we always seemed to be just a little behind what was actually
going on - I am not sure if we just were tuning out the many announcements that
came across the PA system or we were just total space cadets, but our lack of
organization was heightened on check out day. First, I waited in line to
get our check out packets while the kids started emptying the feed and water
coop cups. Once I got back to our area with our packets, I
realized that I forgot to pick up Tabbatha's check out packet - so I went back
and stood in line again. When I got up to the counter again, I found that
I had left Tabbatha's ARBA card inside the van and I could not get her packet
without it. So I walked all the way back to the Youth parking area and got
her card, only to stand in a line for a third time to get her packet -
that was not a good start.
We managed to get our newly-purchased rabbits out to the van and
realized check out was going to be take awhile since we had to process the
French Lops, with their huge carriers, in several trips. While
the kids were putting hay in all our carriers to prepare for the long ride home,
and I was off pursuing Tabatha's check out packet, an older couple asked my
kids if they could use our wheel cart. Kelly and Jody, being polite, said
they could use it, and this couple, who we did not know at all, walked off with
our expensive cart!
When I got back to our
area, I just about had an aneurysm over this...."why did you let
someone take our cart, and especially someone you don't even know???!!!!"
Neither of my kids could see anything wrong with this, they thought they were
being helpful to an older couple, and in hindsight, they were. At that
moment though I pictured complete strangers walking off with our wheel cart, and at the
very least, we would be held up in getting our own rabbits out of the showroom!
I spent an hour and a half trying to track this cart down - I ran through both
the open and youth buildings several times, through all the parking areas, and kept going and
going but never found it - I was out of breath, beat, and resigned to the fact
that we lost the cart forever. I dragged myself back to our 'camp' area,
only to find the kids calmly loading our rabbits onto our missing cart.
 I
do regret being so
upset with the kids over this, but it bothered me that they would be so trusting
to someone they didn't even know - I guess I was a little more suspicious of
people here - I kept thinking that if someone actually took something of ours,
there would be no way to get it back. The kids, by their actions, reminded
me that fellow rabbit breeders, as a whole, are a wonderful group of people.
Still, I am glad that neither of them had my van keys to loan out!
Check out took us several hours - Packing everything in
the van was
difficult - nothing fit in there like it did when we loaded up, so we spent some
time rearranging everything. Of course, we were going home with 4 more large
carriers and more rabbits than we came with. Jody had to spit out the
McDonald's ditty once and a while, especially during heated moments, and I
contemplated making room by tying him to the van roof.
We were finally on our
way out of town somewhere around lunch time and had an uneventful trip back
home.
This was the end of our first ARBA Convention....amongst all the
exhaustion, confusion and chaos, much of it self-induced like I mentioned
before, we felt a certain pride at getting to be a part of such a large national
show and organization, and felt the trip and experience was well worth it.
I think I will be able to relax more at the next convention now that I know
generally how the show is run - and we will certainly be more organized so we
are not 'nearly missing' events such as we during this whole convention!
We were especially impressed by how well the Hoosier club did with running this
show - I cannot begin to imagine doing all that work, much less doing as nice of a
job as they did!
Of course, we came home and
immediately planned on going to Texas in 2006, but realistically, it is not
going to happen....that is, unless I win the lottery...we'll see you all at
Michigan in 2007 though!
Cathy, Kelly and Jody LaReau
2006 ARBA Convention Forth Worth, Texas
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